Cheap Flights

[shaun]

Ted,

Peggy's sister has been married around 2 years so this may not be the same person.  When I was told this I thought that being in such a high position it would be difficult to get a meeting face to face but if it is not unreasonable then I would like to try.  You have a better idea of what to expect and do over there than I would.  My goals are twofold.  Expedite and completion.  Peggy is all in on this and wants to come on the K-1.  I have the paperwork so...

[David5o]

mustfocus,

Out of curiosity, i just did a search on BA airfares to Singapore from London. This is not a discounted fare by the way, just the basic lowest cost that BA offer. The cost with all taxes, fees and surcharges etc came to 699.30 GBP That is the airfare of 473 GBP and the taxes etc came to 226.30 GBP.

So still a hell of a difference in cost as from Canada, even if it is a little further to travel.
I'm pretty sure that you could also get a better deal, from the internet sites than the BA price too....

David....

[ttwjr32]

David,

thats seems to be a great price 699 roundtrip

Shaun,

dont worry your in good hands when you get here. i manage to get
my way in places i have no business getting into. it must be my
very distinguished look   hahahaha

Ted

[David5o]

Ted,

Not really, i've since done a very quick search on the internet sites and the average price there offering is around the 450 GBP mark Rtn, inclusive all taxes... I used the dates 8th of this month to the 22nd, the same as i did for the BA quote...

I have also just checked distances... and Toronto is 2500 miles further to travel than is London... so nowhere near twice the distance, so shouldn't be twice the cost either ...lol!!

David....

[shaun]

Ted,

Both Peggy and I will be grateful for your help while we are there.  I mentioned that I have the paperwork in hand to take.  What I have is a Dept of homeland Security Form G-325A.  It is one page double sided.  Is there anything else I need to take?

Shaun

[mustfocus]

mustfocus,

Out of curiosity, i just did a search on BA airfares to Singapore from London. This is not a discounted fare by the way, just the basic lowest cost that BA offer. The cost with all taxes, fees and surcharges etc came to 699.30 GBP That is the airfare of 473 GBP and the taxes etc came to 226.30 GBP.

So still a hell of a difference in cost as from Canada, even if it is a little further to travel.
I'm pretty sure that you could also get a better deal, from the internet sites than the BA price too....

David....

Tried... been to both big and small travel agents and on the internet...cheapest is $1360 + $346.34 for Air Canada...Toronto Singapore

BA (just for comparison) ... $1550 + $674.05 for the same thing except by BA.

Flight from April 1 to April 16 at cheapest rate available.  Travel time for BA was 32 hours each way...

See how why I am so critical?

[David5o]

mustfocus,


Just checked BA from Heathrow/Singapore on those dates you gave in your post ....came to 733 GBP but i went a day earlier as the price was half the price so 31st march... to 16th April
They seem to want the same sort of money from Toronto to Heathrow London as they do from London to Singapore. ....So total came out around 1465 GBP which to me is crazy money!!!  

David...

[ttwjr32]

Shaun,

i dont remember all the numbers but yes you will need more paperwork
and we can pick up the packet at the consulate. that form will be used at
a much later date i the process

Ted

[shaun]

Ted,

Thanks

[mustfocus]

mustfocus,


Just checked BA from Heathrow/Singapore on those dates you gave in your post ....came to 733 GBP but i went a day earlier as the price was half the price so 31st march... to 16th April
They seem to want the same sort of money from Toronto to Heathrow London as they do from London to Singapore. ....So total came out around 1465 GBP which to me is crazy money!!!  

David...

Hence why I said anything under $1400 is good for a trip to Singapore.  Which is also what annoys the heck out of me.

[Bee964]

David5o,

It is expensive to fly anywhere anymore. If I remember right, the airport taxes, they are supposed to include all the extra security costs due to the crap that happened 911. I may be wrong about that though.

To fly from my place, Windsor Ontario,  to London Heathrow would be in the neighborhood of about $1100 CDN. Then the flight from Heathrow to Singapore, $1100 CDN, (699 GBP converts roughly to $1100 CDN). Just to fly from Windsor to Toronto is $450 CDN.  Then it was around $650 to get to London. This is not flying the cheapest way to Heathrow either, it is going there the Canadian route. My problem is Logistics, if I go the Canadian route.

I live 20 minutes driving time from Detroit metro airport. (thats from my front door to parking the car at the airport. Not counting the time for US customs to let you into their country, sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes 4 hours. depends on the time of day, and their alert level) Flying from the US has always been cheaper. This depends on the exchange rate though. Right now the exchange rate CDN to US is almost equal. ($1.04 at the bank friday) The best price to Singapore from Detroit was just over $1100 US. My point in the post was just that for about the same price I got the plane tickets and gave a friend some much needed business. She saved me about $50 CDN and this may be due to the exchange rate. My point was just that if you are going to pay a stranger $1000 for your trip or your friend $1000 for the same trip would you not choose your friend?

Just so you know, I am not trying to find fault with anything you say in my post here. I was just putting up my experience here in looking for a flight. I must have a list of 30 or 40 different web sites for pricing now. That is not including the airline sites. I could have waited to see if I might get a better price.

I also booked a trip to France through a travel agent, $793 CDN, for December 13. A different travel agent though.(a friend of my parents, my parents are going too. A surprise 50 birthday party for my sister.) Toronto to Geneva and it is on British Airways.(my sister lives close to Geneva) I have not been on a BA flight before and I am looking forward to seeing what its like.

When I meet my lady and if things are going well I may ask her if she can travel to France in december. I have not checked to even see if it is possible. I guess that would depend on France.

Getting to be a little long winded here so I will end now.

Dave C

mustfocus,


Just checked BA from Heathrow/Singapore on those dates you gave in your post ....came to 733 GBP but i went a day earlier as the price was half the price so 31st march... to 16th April
They seem to want the same sort of money from Toronto to Heathrow London as they do from London to Singapore. ....So total came out around 1465 GBP which to me is crazy money!!!  

David...

Hence why I said anything under $1400 is good for a trip to Singapore.  Which is also what annoys the heck out of me.

One of those web sites I found would put up a month calander and have the price of the day you pick as well as the most expensive day that month and the cheapest day that month. It was very helpful in choosing a day to fly.

Dave C

[mustfocus]

Which site was that?  That'd be handy...

If you haven't booked your seats yet, make sure you check out www.seatguru.com to plan that out and try to book those seats.  You wouldn't believe how convenient it was for me.

[Vince G]

They call it a Tax but you pay for the airline to have the terminal at that airport. All the costs for them (security, etc.) are called taxes.

Here the international airport is in a U shape. I fly JetBlue mostly. It was on the the end of the airport then one day I went to pick up my daughters coming in for a visit and it was on the complete different side? In the parking lot (center) I flagged down security and asked him where it was? He said follow me... He took me to the other side. As I saw the area was closed off with yellow tape (No Parking)he lifted the tape and put me right in front of the door. Some luck there.

LAst August one daughter came down. Went to pick her up and they moved it again? To the center of the U. I guess the pricing at different areas are different? Cruise ship do the same thing. They pay a fee to use the port. So this makes the difference in the prices.

[mustfocus]

Over here they don't reorganize the terminals too often, although I must say, at Pearson International (Toronto) Terminal 1 is the most minimalist terminal I have seen...quite boring too.  They could have taken a design lesson from any of the new terminals that have opened up in Asia over the last decade...  AND they're proud of it too...

[David5o]

DaveC,

To be honest, i had no idea how much you Canadians were/are being screwed on your airfares, but i sure do now!!  hahaha!! So yeah, i can understand clearly now what both you and mustfocus are saying....

About the taxes thing, They normally state ''taxes fee's and surcharges'' apart from the standard airport fee, the rest are just money making exercises, and any excuse will raise the cost or add a new dimension to the extra costs.

Take security, ....surely that should be part of the Airport fee, what are they talking about ''extra security??''  Security is what ever it takes to make the airport and the flights as secure as reasonably acceptable. Not charge every passenger every time they change the criteria.

Fuel surcharges ....Airlines/airports use the futures markets, and buy months in advance and base there fares and fees accordingly...this is just another money maker, nothing more.

Taxes.... This is where the governments want to get in on the act of gleaning money out of the passengers, and the latest one is the carbon tax, which is a total scam, as they already have taken there cut out of the fuel costs, so having taxed the fuel, they are now taxing you for actually using the fuel!!!  All this, as the aircraft of today are getting more and more efficient in just about every way. Even the new A380 is more efficient than the first 747's, but were still getting shafted for flying....

On top of all these your now getting conned into paying for E Tickets, which amounts to a computer printout. What about the savings these airlines have made by not issuing a full regular ticket??? Your being charged for saving them money for god's sake !!! Now there dreaming up even more ridiculous charges on some airlines, like Seat booking, flight meals/refreshments, and some think that your baggage should be an extra too!!

To give an example of just how crazy this is going, .... a recent search on a flight from UK to HK the Taxes, fee's and surcharges came to 5 GBP, MORE than the airfare itself!!!!!!
Just remember, 10 years ago there was little to none of this crap, what's it gonna be like in 10 years time?  lol!!!


David...